‘TURTLE LIGHT’ | An exclusive print with SJ Villas
We are delighted to partner with British boutique luxury villa agency, SJ Villas. With a shared love of family holidays and shared values and respect for the natural world, our collaborative print ‘Turtle Light’ shines a spotlight on endangered sea turtles in Barbados. Raising awareness for the impact of artificial light on sea turtle nesting beaches, leading the baby turtle hatchlings astray in finding their way home to the ocean.
Sea Turtle populations have suffered worldwide decline and their recovery depends on the way we manage the impact of expanding human activities encroaching their natural habitat. One of these negative impacts is, perhaps surprisingly, artificial light, which is detrimental to sea turtles. Research shows light pollution from coastal developments is a serious problem for nesting sea turtles and their sea turtle hatchlings. Hatchlings use visual clues to find their way to the ocean after hatching. But if the artificial light from our street lights, cars and buildings are stronger than the natural light, hatchlings become disoriented.
We are delighted to raise awareness for the Barbados Environmental Conservation Trust and the work of The Barbados Sea Turtle Project nesting beach monitoring programme, which is highly regarded as one of the longest running critically endangered Hawksbill turtle conservation programmes in the world. Simply making people more aware about light pollution and sea turtles is a fundamental step towards everyone seeing the light and helping efforts to darken beaches for sea turtles during nesting season.
"Sea Turtle populations have suffered worldwide decline and their recovery depends on the way we manage the impact of expanding human activities"
The Print
In sunny yellows, our print is summer in a swim short. Depicting one of nature's miracles with the turtles hatchlings making their clumsy first steps across the sandy beach towards the ocean. Barbados is the destination of choice for over 600 nesting hawksbill turtles annually, the largest population in the insular Caribbean.
A family story
With our thanks to Judy and Tom, who bring together two generations of passion for travel, local expertise, and wanderlust. What began as a love for France spread rapidly to global destinations. Judy and Tom pride themselves on finding some of the most characterful holiday houses in places we love, from Barbados to Sri Lanka and dozens of points in between. The SJ Villas website is merely a shop window; they have plenty more private holiday houses waiting to be discovered. Tom and Judy personally manage all inquiries, crafting unique bespoke experiences to meet every whim. They pride themselves on matching the right family to the perfect house. As a recent traveler said, "You advise, you do not sell."
Image Credits
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/endangered-hawksbill-turtle-shell-trade-is-bigger-than-scientists-realized
https://a-z-animals.com/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/hawksbill-turtle
https://sjvillas.co.uk/